拍品描述： CHINA, CHINESE COINS, REPUBLIC, Chang Tso Lin (1875-1928): Gold Pattern 50-Dollars, Republic, Year 16 (1927), Obv facing bust of Chang in military uniform, border of flames, Rev dragon and phoenix motif, legend around, within border of flames (unlisted in Kann; unlisted in KM; L&M 1031). Prooflike mint state with light hairlines, in NGC holder graded MS64, of the highest rarity, the first example seen by the cataloguer in over 40 years experience of Chinese Republican coins. ”One of the Rarest Coins in the World”. Chang Tso Lin, nicknamed the “Grand Marshal” was one of the major Chinese warlords of the early 20th century. He was warlord of Manchuria from 1916-28 and at one time ruled an enormous area of north China. Chang was born in 1875 to poor parents in Haicheng county in south Fengtien. Lacking formal education, he did a string of odd jobs before joining the army. After fighting the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-95), he returned home and led a large force of local desperados. In the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, the Japanese Army employed them as mercenaries. At the end of the Qing dynasty, Chang managed to embody his soldiers as the Chinese army under his command. When the Revolution of 1911 broke out, he ordered his men to suppress the revolutionaries and to occupy Fengtien City (Shenyang). The chaotic conditions that prevailed during the declining years of the Qing dynasty and the early periods of the Republic enabled Chang to enhance his military power in Manchuria, relying on the tacit support of the Japanese, to whom he granted concessions. In 1915 he became both Civil and Military Governor of Fengtien and in 1918 the Inspector-General of the Three Eastern Provinces (Fengtien, Heilongjiang and Jilin), so that the whole of Manchuria was under his control. In the summer of 1920 Chang made a foray into north China. He supported another warlord Tsao Kun with troops and together they succeeded in ousting Tuan Chi Jui, the leading warlord of Beijing. As a reward Chang was granted control over most of Inner Mongolia to the west of Manchuria. But he was confronted by Wu Pei Fu, warlord of the Chihli Clique (Chihli is the name of the area surrounding Beijing). War broke out when Chang’s forces entered into China proper in April 1922 and were soundly defeated by the Chihli Army in what came to be known as the First Chihli-FengtienWar. Chang had to retreat to Shanhaiguan and in anger declared Manchuria independent from Beijing in May 1922. After the defeat of 1922 Chang reorganized and re-equipped the Fengtien Army. When fighting broke out again in Central China in the autumn of 1924, Chang saw an opportunity to capture north China and Beijing and become head of the Central Government. While most other warlord armies fought along the Yangtze River, Chang attacked north China. The Second Chihli-Fengtien War had begun. In a surprise move, a Chihli commander, Feng Yu Xiang toppled Tsao Kun and took control of Beijing. He shared power with Chang and both appointed the same Tuan Chi Jui he had ousted in 1920. By August 1925, the Fengtien Army controlled four large provinces within the Great Wall, Chihli (not including Beijing), Shandong, Jiangsu and Anhui. However, later that year the Chihli Clique was able to push back the Fengtien Army, who continued to attack Beijing into the spring of 1926. In June 1926 Chang had managed to capture Beijing. A year later he proclaimed himself as Grand Marshal of the Republic’s land and naval forces, and thus ruled what was still recognized internationally as China’s legal government. However, an alliance of regional warlords led by Chiang Kai Shek attacked Chang’s forces in May 1928 in a campaign known as the Northern Expedition and the Fengtien Army had to leave Beijing and return to Manchuria. On 4 June 1928 Chang was killed when a bomb planted by officers of the Japanese Army blew up the train he was riding to Shenyang. When Chang controlled Beijing and Tientsin between 1926 and 1928, the Tientsin Mint struck four silver dollars, two copper patterns for a $20 and a $40 gold coin and a $50 gold coin featuring the portrait of Chang Tso Lin. They were never adopted for general circulation and remain very rare to exceedingly rare essays. The $50 gold pattern on offer here is the only specimen known to the cataloguer and escaped even E. Kann, who mentions only the two copper patterns in his “Illustrated Catalog of Chinese Coins” (p 434) and had never seen or heard of the $50 gold coin. This coin is the highest denomination coin in gold or any other metal issued by the Republic of China. It is possibly the rarest Chinese gold coin of the Republican era, much rarer than the off-metal strike portrait dollars in gold.